Providence Bay
Providence Bay | |
---|---|
Emma Harbor, Plover Bay, Ureliki | |
Бу́хта Провиде́ния ( Far North | |
Coordinates | 64°25′00″N 173°24′00″W / 64.41667°N 173.40000°W |
Ocean/sea sources | Bering Sea |
Basin countries | Russia |
Max. width | 34 km (21 mi) |
Average depth | 150 m (490 ft) |
Providence Bay (Russian: Бу́хта Провиде́ния, Bukhta Provideniya[1]) is a fjord in the southern coast of the Chukchi Peninsula of northeastern Siberia. It was a popular rendezvous, wintering spot, and provisioning spot for whalers and traders in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Emma Harbor (now Komsomolskaya Bay) is a large sheltered bay in the eastern shore of Providence Bay. Provideniya and Ureliki settlements and Provideniya Bay Airport stand on the Komsomolskaya Bay. Plover Bay in English sources sometimes refers specifically to the anchorage behind Napkum Spit within Providence Bay (also called Port Providence) but was commonly used as a synonym for Providence Bay; Russian 19th century sources used the term for an anchorage within Providence Bay.[2]
Plover Bay takes its name from HMS Plover, a British ship which overwintered in Emma Harbor in 1848–1849. HMS Plover with captain Thomas E. L. Moore left Plymouth in January 1848 for the Bering Sea to find the lost Franklin Expedition. On October 17, 1848, Moore anchored his ship in a safe harbor; he is given credit for the name Providence Bay and for the first successful wintering of a ship in Bering Sea region.[3] Lieutenant William Hulme Hooper of the Plover attributes the name Port Emma (or Emma's Harbor) to Captain Moore but provides no explanation of the choice of name.[4]
Geography
The entrance to Providence Bay is delineated by Mys Lysaya Golova (East Head, Baldhead Point) on the east and by Mys Lesovskogo on the west. Mys Lysaya Golova is about 7 miles (11 km) west-northwest of Cape Chukotsky.[5] Providence Bay is about 8 km wide at its mouth and 34 km long (measured along the midline). It is about 4 km wide through much of its length below Emma Harbor, and about 2.5 km wide just above the juncture. The lower part of the bay runs roughly northeast, while the upper part (above the branch shown as Ked Bay) dog-legs north and is about 2 km wide. Depth soundings (USCGS 1928) show 19 fathoms (35 m) at the entrance and a maximum depth of 82 fathoms (150 m). A more recent chart (USCS 2000) shows depths of 10 to 11 fathoms (18 to 20 m) at the entrance.
Emma Harbor has been described as "the best harbor on the Asiatic coast north of
Plover Spit is site of an abandoned Eskimo village with characteristic semi-underground houses,
History
Providence Bay and Emma Harbor do not appear on maps before 1850; it is thought they were visited by whalers in the period 1845-48 just prior to the Plover's visit.[19] Providence Bay was probably visited by Russian explorer Kurbat Ivanov in 1660[20] but his explorations of the Gulf of Anadyr were not widely reported. Golden Gate, a ship of the Russian–American Telegraph Expedition, visited Plover Bay in September 1865, having just missed encounter with "the famed and dreaded"[21] CSS Shenandoah. Frederick Whymper, member of this expedition, reported that by this time "it was no uncommon thing to find several whaling vessels lying inside in summer".[22] Whymper (and later John Muir) described the mountains around Plover Bay as "composed of an infinite number of fragments split up by action of frost... innumerable and many-coloured lichens and mosses are the only vegetation to be seen, except on a patch of open green country near Emma Harbour, where domesticated reindeer graze."[23]
The area around Providence Bay provided good whaling in the early days, particularly in the fall; this may account for some of its popularity as a wintering spot. In 1860, the Supreme Court of Hawaii ruled in favor of eight seamen of the whaling brig Wailua of Honolulu which wintered in Plover Bay 1858-9 after staying too late into the fall. Captain Lass maintained he had become icebound unintentionally having entered the bay to take on water and remained because of the good whaling. The whaling in this instance was done from boats operating from the harbor, where the ship remained moored. The crew members alleged that Lass had planned on overwintering, subjecting them to hardship and extending their service in violation of their contract. The court ruled for the seamen, holding that although intention was not proved, Captain Lass's actions amounted to recklessness.[24] Whymper describes witnessing the pursuit and processing of whales within the bay in 1866.[25] In 1871, the whaling bark Oriole, damaged by ice, limped or was towed into Plover Bay to attempt repairs. According to John Spears colorful account, Captain Hayes had taken his ship through the ice to reach open water off the Siberian coast, hoping to have the large schools of whales near Plover Bay to himself, but the ship hit a large ice floe. The Oriole was subsequently abandoned in the bay; in Spears account, she was tipped on her side for repairs when a hatch gave way, flooding and sinking the ship in minutes.[26] By 1880, a visitor on the schooner Yukon found the village on the spit much reduced; whales were no longer abundant and many residents had moved west in search of better hunting. The village dogs had all died due to lack of food.[27]
In 1875 Russian clipper Gaydamak under command of Sergey Tyrtov[28] anchored in Providence Bay. Tyrtov, ordered to enforce state monopoly on coastal trading, distributed to local Chukchis printed leaflets addressed to foreign merchants. He then headed north to Saint Lawrence Bay where he intercepted Timandra, an American merchant boat involved in trading walrus ivory for alcohol.[2] In 1876 the mission was continued by captain Novosilsky on board of Vsadnik. Vsadnik anchored in Plover Bay July 5, 1876, performed hydrographic survey of the area and then headed north; she passed Bering Strait, turned west, reaching Cape Schmidt (then Cape Severny, or North Cape in English usage) and safely returned to base. Vsadnik did not meet any merchant boats, but found evidence of recent trading with America (including unfinished vodka barrels) in Chukchi huts.[2]
In 1881 Russian
An article from 1879 quotes a letter from
Emma Harbor and Providence Bay were favored sites for scientific observers. These included investigators from the US Naval Observatory attempting to observe the
In 1921, there were reported efforts by Japan to assert control of the area, and the strategic importance of the bay was noted by an American writer .[42] Two Soviet-era settlements, Provideniya and Ureliki, were built on Komsomolskaya Bay in the 20th century, and the bay was used as a naval harbor. It was the major supply point for the Chukotka region during World War II.[3] After the breakup of the Soviet Union five border patrol boats stationed in Provideniya stayed idle at the port for three years due to lack of fuel.[43] Ureliki, a military city, is reportedly now abandoned, but the adjacent Provideniya Bay Airport remains.
See also
- List of fjords of Russia
- List of inhabited localities in Providensky District
- File:Plover Bai.PNG Map from a 1906 atlas - identifies Cache Bay, Mount Kennicott
- File:Plover Bay Sketch Map 1869.PNG Professor Hall's sketch map of Plover Bay and Emma Harbor 1869
- Provideniya Bay Airport
Notes
- ISBN 978-0-87779-546-9p. 959
- ^ a b c d e Popov, chapter 8
- ^ a b Gal
- ^ Hooper
- ^ a b Sailing Directions (Enroute), Pub. 155: East Coast of Russia (PDF). Sailing Directions. United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. 2017. p. 8.
- ^ New York Times, November 27, 1921
- ^ New York Times,November 21, 1880
- ^ Dall
- ^ Muir, John of the Mountains p408
- ^ Russell, Given p. 482
- ^ Whymper p 89
- ^ Hall
- ^ New York Times, September 23, 1869
- ^ Office of Coast Survey
- ^ a b Krupnik
- ^ Hodge
- ^ Petit Fute; Hooper; Hall
- ^ Russel, Given p505; Petit Fute; Reid
- ^ Baker p124
- ^ Petit Fute, Fisher
- ^ Whymper, p. 92
- ^ Whymper, p. 88
- ^ Whymper, pp. 88-89
- ^ Davis
- ^ Whymper p 123
- ^ Bocstoce, Spears
- ^ New York Times, Nov 21, 1880
- ^ Brother of future Imperial Navy minister Pavel Tyrtov
- ^ Muir, The Cruise of the Corwin
- ^ Nature
- ^ New York Times November 21, 1880
- ^ Nielsen v Northeastern Siberian Company; Owen
- ^ West;
- ^ Gavrilov, p. 151
- ^ Cochran
- ^ Bartlett
- ^ Scull
- ^ Burnham 1922 p 392
- ^ Marchenko
- ^ Muir, John of the mountains, p. 408
- ^ Burroughs, pp. 109-110
- ^ New York Times, November 27, 1921; March 21, 1922
- ^ Arbatov et al., p. 147
References
- Arbatov, Alexey; et al. (1999). Russia and East Asia: 21st Century Security Environment. M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 978-0-7656-0434-7.
- Baker, Marcus (1881). "Boundary line between Alaska and Siberia". Bulletin of the Philosophical Society of Washington. 4: 123–133.
- Bartlett, Robert A. & Hale, Ralph T. (1916). The last voyage of the Karluk : flagship of Vilhjalmar Stefansson's Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1913-16. McClelland, Toronto. pp. 278–279.
- Bockstoce, John R. (2006) Nineteenth century commercial shipping losses in the northern Bering Sea, Chukchi Sea, and Beaufort Sea The Northern Mariner, XVI (2), pp 53–68
- Burnham, John B. (1922). "On the track of an unknown sheep". Scribner's Magazine. 71 (4): 379–402.
- ISBN 978-1-4179-4433-0.
- Cochran, C.S. (1915). "Report of northern cruise, Coast Guard cutter Bear". Annual report of the United States Coast Guard. Washington: Government Printing Office. pp. 79–86.
- Dall, William H. (1870). Alaska and its Resources. Lee and Shepard, Boston.
Dall Alaska and its resources 1870.
pp 304–305. - Davis, Robert G. (1866). "Makuola et als. v. the Brig Wailua". Reports of a Portion of the Decisions of the Supreme Court of the Hawaiian Islands. 2: 356–363.
- Fisher, Raymond H. (ed) (1981) The Voyage of Semen Dezhnev in 1648: Bering's precursor, with selected documents. Hakluyt Society, London.
- Gal, Bob (2008). "Plover Bay, Provideniya Raion, Russia: A Potential Component of the Beringian Heritage International Park. Beringia Days 2008 (abstract)". Archived from the original on 29 September 2011.
- Gavrilov, S. V. (2003). Vdol kamchatskih beregov (Вдоль камчатских берегов) (in Russian). Petropavlosk: Kamchatsky knizhny dvor (Петропавловск-Камчатский: Камчатский книжный двор). ISBN 5-85857-052-6.
- Bibcode:1870USNOM...7B...1.
- Hodge, Frederick Webb (1912) Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, Volume 3. Volume 30 of Bulletin (Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology) Reprint Digital Scanning, Inc., 2003.
- Hooper, William Hulme (1853). Ten Months Among the Tents of the Tuski: With Incidents of an Arctic Boat Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin, as Far as the Mackenzie River, and Cape Bathurst. J. Murray, London.
Ten Months among the Tents of the Tuski.
- Krupnik, Igor; Chlenov, Mikhail (2007). "The end of "Eskimo land": Yupik relocation in Chukotka, 1958-1959". Études/Inuit/Studies. 31 (1–2): 59–81. doi:10.7202/019715ar.
- Marchenko Nataliya (2012). Russian Arctic Seas: Navigational conditions and accidents. Springer. ISBN 9783642221255.
- Muir, John & William Frederic Badè (1917). The Cruise of the Corwin: Journal of the Arctic Expedition of 1881 in Search of De Long and the Jeanette. Houghton Mifflin Co.
Muir corwin.
- Muir, John (1979). ISBN 978-0-299-07884-3. (reprint of 1938 edition)
- Nature 19, Jan 23, 1879, p 270. "Geographical notes".
- New York Times, September 23, 1869, "The Pacific coast.; The Astronomical expedition to Siberia unsuccessful--the sun obscured during the eclipse." P 5
- New York Times, November 21, 1880. "Cruising in the arctic; the Yukon at St. Paul and at Plover Bay" p. 8
- New York Times, November 27, 1921. "Yankee in Siberia; American hunter brings ne[w] specimens—complains of Japanese interference." Page XX12
- New York Times, March 21, 1922, "Japanese in the far north" p3.
- Nielsen v Northeastern Siberian Company Supreme Court of Washington Sept 18, 1905 Pacific Reporter 82 p292
- Office of Coast Survey. "Bering Sea nautical charts". Historical map and chart project. Office of Coast Survey, NOAA, USA. Archived from the original on 2010-12-31. Retrieved 2009-06-05. Query Bering; select preview for year wanted (dates 1911, 1916, 1923, 1928, 1933, 1938). Click desired location to enlarge and center.
- Owen, Thomas C. (2008). "Chukchi gold: American enterprise and Russian xenophobia in the Northeastern Siberia Company". Pacific Historical Review. 77 (1): 49–85. .
- Petit Fute (2006). Chukotka. Avant Garde, Moscow. ISBN 9785863942582.
- Popov, S. V. (1990). Avtography na karte (Автографы на карте) (in Russian). SZKI, Arkhangelsk (Архангельск, Северо-Западное книжное издательство). ISBN 5-85560-153-6.
- Reid, Anna (2002) The Shaman's Coat A Native history of Siberia Phoenix (Orion Books) London, paperback edition 2003
- Russell, Dick; Given, Eben (2004). Eye of the whale: epic passage from Baja to Siberia. Island Press. ISBN 978-1-55963-088-7.
- Scull, Edward Marshall (1914). Hunting in the Arctic and Alaska. John C. Winston co., p. 53
- Spears, John Randolph (1908) The story of the New England whalers The Macmillan Company, NY, pp 410–414
- United States Hydrographic Office (1909). Asiatic pilot, Volume 1. Issues 122–126; Issue 162 of H.O. pub. Gov. Printing Off., Washington.
- West, Ellsworth Luce (1965) as told to Eleanor Ransom Mayhew. Captain's papers: a log of whaling and other sea experiences; Barre Publishers, Barre, MA
- Whymper, Frederick (1868). Travel and adventure in the territory of Alaska: formerly Russian America. London: John Murray.
External links
- East coast of Plover Bay showing the change in character at the point where the spit leaves the shore.
- Eskimos in umiak alongside the George W. Elder.
- Eskimo woman and children in camp dressed in reindeer-skin parkas and sealskin boots.
- Eskimo summer houses, or topeks, constructed of reindeer skins stretched over poles. View looking toward sea.
- Eskimo village at Plover Bay. Skin house for summer use on the left. Turf wall of a winter house on the right.
- Frame of winter house of Eskimo at Plover Bay. The posts are jaw bones of whales. The filling between them is turf.